


THE WAY THE WORLD COULD BE

by tinywhim



Series: GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT [3]
Category: Hadestown - Mitchell, Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Angst, Don't Look Back, Hadestown!AU, M/M, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:00:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23352076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinywhim/pseuds/tinywhim
Summary: ❝Who do you think I am? Who am I to think that he would follow me into the cold and dark again?❞If Thomas is strong enough, him and his lover will be whole again.[Hadestown!AU]
Relationships: Alexander Hamilton/Thomas Jefferson, George Washington/Martha Washington
Series: GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1682707
Comments: 16
Kudos: 17





	THE WAY THE WORLD COULD BE

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt : A songfic inspired by ‘Doubt comes in’ from Hadestown.  
> So I don't own that, of course.  
> Thomas is Orpheus and Alexander Eurydice. They have to walk out of hell and only Thomas has the power to make sure things will be okay.   
> Side notes : The Cast.  
> Alexander is Eurydice.  
> Thomas is Orpheus.  
> George is Hades.  
> Martha is Persephone.  
> Lafayette is Hermes.  
> The Schuyler sisters are the Fates  
> Warnings : angst  
> Words : 2271

_Keep on walking and don't look back.  
_

Was Thomas strong enough? He came all the way down Georgetown to find his Alexander and to bring him back to where he belonged, with him, up above. He knew that he could to it, he had no other choice. He had abandoned his darling what felt a lifetime ago, but he found him once again. He had no choice, he promised.

_“Promise me we’ll get through this, Thomas._ ”

Thomas sang George and Martha’s song, hoping it would give him strength but unlike the other times, the world around him did not change. He did not see his sweet Alexander before him, with his big brown eyes and his beautiful smile. He did not see him with his worn-out notebook in which he would write down his dreams of spring and Thomas’ poems, the very same one he would use to press flowers he found in the fields they laid in.

He promised, he had to be strong, for them, for the future that they were meant to share together. Even Martha had told George that Thomas had the kind of love for Alexander that they once had. They had the kind of love that could make the gods jealous, the kind of love that could make the world whole again.

_Doubt comes in_

_The wind is changing_

_How cold it’s blowing_

He shivered because of the cold wind and his thought went to Alexander. Was it the same wind that swept him away? Away to Georgetown? Was it the same wind that took his lover from him? That made him leave for the underworld, away from him and from the people he loved? Was it going to do it again? Could Thomas prevent it, this time? 

_Doubt comes in_

_And meets a stranger_

_Walking on the road alone._

He could hear the voices in his head, voices who wouldn’t leave him alone. He had heard them before. Voices who made him doubt. _Alone?_ Was he truly alone? No… His Alexander was walking behind him, right? He listened carefully as he walked, trying to hear something, anything that could tell him that Alexander was behind him but he couldn’t hear anything. Where was he?

_Where is he?_

_Where is he now?_

_Doubt comes in_

“Who am I?” he asked. “Where do I think I’m going?”

His mind became more and more clouded with every step he took. What was he doing? Why was he walking? Why did his heart feel so heavy in his chest? Why did he feel this urge to turn around? Yet something was preventing from doing so. Something… something important. _A promise._

_Doubt comes in_

Weren’t promises made to be broken anyway? 

“Who am I?” he softly continued, confused. “Why am I all alone?”

_Doubt comes in_

Thomas asked himself, wondering why he was walking with no one by his side. Didn’t he have someone by his side? Wasn’t there a warm hand to hold at some point? Wasn’t there supposed to be a smaller body pressed against him? Didn’t he have someone by his side? He shook his head, trying to focus his steps.

“Who do you think I am? Who am I to think that he would follow me into the cold and dark again?”

He remembered how Alexander was a hungry young boy, longing for spring, longing for a belly full of food and for stability. Thomas had always wanted to be his safety, he had wanted to make him his and to shelter him with his song. Wasn’t he whole point of his song? To shelter them from the wind? 

Yet, Alexander had already left him once. What if he wasn’t enough? What if Alexander left him once again? What if he didn’t make enough to provide for both of them? How would he do without him?

_Where is he?_

_Where is he now?_

Alexander wrinkled his eyebrows as he walked behind his lover. He hated how he could only see him from afar, how he couldn’t touch him. He couldn’t wait for the walk to be over, he couldn’t wait to be back into Thomas’s arms, to hold him close and to never let go. He didn’t care about money, he didn’t care about diamonds and palaces. He only cared about having just enough to live with him.

He could see his lover struggling because he knew that it was a hard test but once it was passed, they would be together again. Mister Lafayette told them so. Alexander could feel the eyes of the workers on them as they showed the way. 

They couldn’t fail, they had to succeed, not only for them but for everyone in the underworld. They had to show them the way, they had to show them that there was something else behind the wall. Alexander would have given everything just to reach out to reassure his lover. 

“Thomas, are you listening?” Alexander asked, hopeful. “I’m right here,” he promised. “And I will be till the end.” He smiled, thinking about all the springs they were going to live together. 

Would Thomas sing him songs under a blossoming tree? Would he let him put flowers in his haor? It would make the prettiest crown, a crown for _his_ king. If he closed his eyes he could almost picture a perfect sunny day with his beloved.

“And the coldest night of the coldest year comes right before the spring.” He sang, knowing that their hard work would pay in the end.

A spring they would live together once that Martha would be back from the underworld. They would all drink together and they would dance and after having their bellies full of food, they would lay down the grass and look at the stars. Thomas would even sing him a song and Alexander would sing with him because their voices perfectly fit.

Thomas sang his song again, but this time no one sang with him, not even his Alexander. Yet, he was still behind him, wasn’t he? He promised, he promised that he would be walking behind him, that he would follow him to the end of the world if needed. He sang it louder, hoping that someone would hear but he was only greeted with silence.

“Who am I?” he frowned, thinking of George. “Who am I against him? Who am I? Why would he let me win ?” 

He was a musician, a poor one, he was a nobody. George was a king, the king of the underworld, with the prettiest queen beside him. He owned everything, Alexander included. Would he truly go back on his words just to let them go?

“Why would he let him go?”

Alexander was a treasure, who would want to part way with him? If he were George, he would have kept the little songbird in a golden cage, big enough to make him think he was free. Alexander was a beautiful songbird who hummed the prettiest melodies. 

“Who am I to think that he wouldn't deceive me just to make me leave alone?”

_Doubt comes in_

_The wind his changing_

What if Alexander was still back there? He couldn’t see him after all. What proof did he have that his beloved was right behind him? What if it was all a trick? What if he left and never saw him again? What if he was denied access to Georgetown if he tried to go back?

“Is this a trap that’s being laid for me?”

_Doubt comes in._

_How cold it’s blowing_

“Is this a trick that’s being played on me?”

He knew how George could be, the man was cunning, smart beyond reason. The man had built a wall, bigger than anything else on Earth. He was a businessman, older than the moon with more experience than Thomas could ever dream to have. Surely, deceiving him wouldn’t be complicated. Alexander was one of the smartest people Thomas knew and yet he had still been tricked too.

_Doubt comes in and meets a stranger_

“I used to see the way the world could be.”

He had seen the way the world could be. He had seen the potential, full of light, of flowers, of songs and joy, a perfect world for his Alexander. A world he knew that would make him happy and that would keep his belly full, a world in which Alexander wouldn’t have to worry about sleeping under a roof for the whole world would be his home.

_Walking on the road below_

“But now the way it is is all I see and... “

_Nothing._ He was alone. _Nothing._ He could felt it, he was alone. Alexander wasn’t there, was he? It was just him walking out of hell without his lover. George had lied, he had tricked him. _The voices said that you were alone._ He should have known that the king of the underworld would not let a soul leave his kingdom. _Why don’t you just check?_

He raised his head, biting his lips. 

_Where is he?_

_Where is he now?_

Would a quick glance behind his shoulder hurt? He knew it would ease his worries, he knew that if he caught just a glimpse of Alexander, everything would be alright, he knew that he would keep walking. He would keep walking with his head high and his chest puffed because he was bringing his lover back to life. He wanted to make sure that his lover was alright.

“Thomas, you are not alone,” Alexander reassured but it didn’t seem like his lover could hear him at all. “I’m right behind you,” he said. “I have been all along.”

_We have some many years left together, my love._

He could feel it, how close they were. He could almost taste the fresh air. His heart leapt in his chest when he saw Thomas pass the gate of the underworld, back to the land of the living. Just a few seconds and he would be there with him, he would jump in his arms and kiss him and everything would be alright. 

“And the darkest hour-” he sang as he quickened his pace, only a few feet separating from his lover. “-of the darkest night comes right before the-”

Thomas turned around. Alexander froze and gasped, feeling all air leave his lungs. His eyes were wide, almost unfocused. They had been so close, he could almost see the sky again, he could almost feel the sun with his hand hanging mid-air, outstretched and longing to hold Thomas'.

_When was the last time you saw the sky?_

“You're early.” Alexander finally breathed.

A single tear rolled on his cheek, Thomas wanted to wipe it and kiss it away. He hated how he could see despair twisting Alex's beautiful features, he hated how he could see him shaking, fearing what was to come, the inevitable, the consequence of _his_ mistake.

“I missed you."

He met his lover’s eyes once again, his heartbreak reflecting painfully on them. He didn’t want to believe it, he wanted to run into his arms and never let go. He wanted to feel the sun again. He wanted to hold Thomas’s flower in his hand and he wanted him to sing him his song that would make spring come again.

“Thomas.”

The curly-haired man raised his hand. 

“Alexander.”

Thomas moved to grab his hand, but before he could do anything, Alexander felt cold, as if a veil shrouded him. He took one last look at his lover, perfectly knowing that it would be the last time he would see him. He would stay stuck forever in Georgetown, working in the factory and in the workhouse. 

He swallowed hard, accepting his fate. He had been cursed ever since he had accepted George’s ticket, so it wasn’t really Thomas’s fault, was it? He had been the one to sign at the bottom of the page, not Thomas. Thomas had come all this way to bring him back, he had expected too much from him. Alexander wanted to say those three little words as a farewell, one last time, but he faded before could even open his mouth.

“ _Alexander!_ ”

What has he done? Thomas felt horrified as he stared at the space where his lover previously stood. What has he done? How could he break his promise? Why did he doom them? Or were they doomed from the start? 

He fell on his knees, clenching his chest as he felt his heart bleed, bleed for his Alexander, his songbird who would never see the sun again. Heavy tears poured on his dirty cheeks and just knowing that his lover was in the same state and that he had no one to comfort him killed Thomas. 

He hated himself, he hated how weak he was, how he had been the one in the front. He should have been the one following, not leading, because he knew that had the roles been inverted, Alexander would not have turned around. He would have walked with his head high until they were both safe, until they could be together again.

Yet now Thomas was cursed to live a loveless life in the land of the living and Alexander had no other choice but to comply with the demands of George Washington, in a world below his lover’s feet. He knew they were both afraid.

Yet, they both had to lay in the bed they made.

* * *

come talk to me on my [tumblr](https://tinywhim.tumblr.com/).

You can buy me a coffee [here](https://ko-fi.com/tinywhim) if you want.

[MOODBOARD](https://tinywhim.tumblr.com/post/613843024407150592/good-things-come-to-those-who-wait-aesthetic)

[Eurydice! Alexander](https://tinywhim.tumblr.com/post/613843474047025152/good-things-come-to-those-who-wait-aesthetic)

[Orpheus! Thomas fanart](https://tinywhim.tumblr.com/post/613847989637758976/oh-my-god-but-you-can-draw-is-this-a)

[Fanart](https://tinywhim.tumblr.com/post/613871800000102400/shanshala-tinywhim-your-work-is-so-amazing-i)

[Fanart](https://tinywhim.tumblr.com/post/614479192796676096/i-have-been-blessed-once-again-thank-you-so)

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea why I wrote it but I needed it so much.  
> The ending is based on the first draft of the nytw production, in which Orpheus turns around and Eurydice says 'You're early', to which he replies 'I missed you', just like Hades and Persephone in Way down Hadestown.  
> Do tell me what you thought of it !


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